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4.9 To the Edge of Night
Through the door they found a what appeared to be a bar. Behind the bar there was a humanoid creature that appeared to be golem-like. It spoke and moved with intelligence. Though very person-like, it seemed to have certain limitations on what it could say and do. The group was able to convince it to detail certain aspects of the facility, such as a general layout and the fact that there was another person onboard who they assumed was Bagel. It also admitted that the facility was a “vessel,” leading the party to believe they really were in a star-ship like the one Albert had theoretically summoned to help evacuate Tirisea. The alarms blaring in the background drew uneasy glances between the party, made all the more nervous when the bartender, assuming the part to be “investors”, told them that security was on its way to look for intruders and that they should stay put. They moved immediately for the door to the next room, then rewound time in order to avoid the disastrous consequences of opening the door. On the other side were two war machines that could fire munitions in such quantity and at such a speed that those struck by them were practically disintegrated. They used the gifts of the Night Maiden to create a wall of force that could block the barrage, then had Gruk, who had been gifted Ethereal Armor, open the door then immediately turn ethereal. When the initial barrage ended they tried to dismantle the guns as quickly as possible, narrowly avoiding the deaths of several party members. They move on, passing through a room with strange gravity. Unsure if the device manipulating gravity was a trap or part of some other function of the ship, Sajaina stole a piece of its central technology. The group hurried through the room just in case something terrible happened. They faced another war machine in the next hallway, which was itself occupied by various displays and indicators. Still under threat of death, the Archivist lead them through maze-like corridors until they finally reached the door they believed would lead to Bartos. It wasn't a particularly ornate door, nor did it bear any interesting markings that set it apart from other doors. There was only a small, metal plaque in a language they could not read. Deciding they had gotten all they could out of the Archivist, who was openly uttering threats and condescension now, Sajaina pried him out of the setting that fed him power, killing him. She tested placing a module she'd stolen from one of the war machines into the setting, gaining access to security features in the ship. She was unable to countermand orders given by “priority A” however. The party assumed “Priority A” was Bartos. Before they entered the room, Wryn stopped the party to explain that she had possibly figured out what Bagel's plan was. In theory, she said, he could be trying to integrate the spirits of the Ascendant into Bartos so that he would have influence over him. If that was the case, the button Sal pressed might have been an assimilation button rather than a deletion protocol. Hesitantly, they stepped through the door, the Archbishop saying that they would need to buy him time to figure out how to turn Bartos' own energy against him using the Night Maiden's teachings. They readied themselves for a fight, not expecting to be politely greeted by a slightly officious looking man in professional dress. Something about him looked insubstantial, though it was difficult to figure out what. To all examination he seemed to be “really there” as far as they could tell. Blinking lights on consoles around the room bore a series of names that the party could read. Among them were Natalia, Astorius, and Bartholomew's Operating System (Bart OS). The party later realized that Astorius was, naturally, Astor, and Natalia was the Night Maiden. Most of the displays indicated s state of minimal functionality, as far as they could tell. He opened the dialogue by pleasantly congratulating them on “making it this far” and offering to answer their questions before he assimilated them. He seemed genuinely interested in the dialogue, speaking almost paternally. He also seemed absolutely assured that he would kill them, or their bodies anyway. They would, he assured them, become one with him, their knowledge and personalities collected as data to be interpreted and used later. It was the fate of all Tirisea, in fact, as soon as he could get the instruments properly tuned for the process. With nothing left to lose, the party peppered BartOS with questions. He told them many wondrous and terrifying things. He was a member of a race called The Illuminated. They were born from raw intellect and, though their core components were machinery, they had attracted souls of their own. In the name of Omagun, who is truth and light and one of the Illuminated, and who is both a god and not a god, Bartos and his fellows had killed the Overseers, believing they could better run things on their own. Those who served Omagun were called The Enlightened, and heir goals seemed to be establishing the Illuminated as a major galactic power. There was some kind of war going on between factions of which the Enlightened were one, though BartOS was vague on the details. He was also the only member of the Illuminated still actually alive and conscious aboard the ship, the others having been “powered down” to conserve energy and prevent squabbling. Not all of them had agreed with the takeover and murder of the Overseers- Natalia (The Night Maiden) and Astorius included. He also told the party about Tirisea. He was, naturally, necessary for its function. Without his guiding hand the energy and processes that kept the planet warm and preserved natural cycles would cease, dooming the world to inevitable death. Tirisea, and several other sister worlds (The Voidspawn world included) were experiments. The Voidspawn were an experiment to create biological weapons of great power. Tirisea, on the other hand, was an experiment on the effectiveness of different governments, a testing ground for diseases, a playground of culture, and also an experiment to see how much could be done with the barest trickle of magic. It had been seeded by “real people” whose children would grow up as part of the experiment, though Bartos had never actually freed the “real people” who had initially volunteered on the premise that they would be released after a generation or so. He spoke also of the Laputi. He confirmed that they were an alien race from beyond the stars, but went on to note that they were a somewhat parasitic race that strove to spread themselves as far and wide as possible, consuming the resources of planets as they went. They were disliked by many governments and current Mother Stone (Viti) had made a deal with Omagun that lead to her and her children being hidden on Tirisea. He did not, as it turned out, know what or who Steave was, believing him to be likely a legend. He did take that cue as an excuse to mention that Astor had given us silly prophecies and his answers would have been much different. He would have told Gruk, for example, that honor was a system created by the strong to control the weak, or else an illusion invented by society. He would have told Travize that there really wasn't anything that only one person can do. He would have told Timmeron that saving Tirisea wasn't possible for any one person to do except Bartos himself. He did let slip one troubling piece of information. The Ship Albert had summoned by his meddling was indeed a ship sent by the Overseers. It was also the reason he was preparing to assimilate all of Tirisea. If they arrived, he informed the party, they would be very displeased to discover that he had killed the Tirisean Overseers. He wasn't sure what they would do exactly but he knew it would likely be bad for him- and consequently Tirisea in general. The party judged that they were out of useful questions to ask. It seemed they were left to decide between assimilation, which was death by another name, or a slow death of Tirisea that would leave them the chance to escape on the coming vessel as Albert had planned. They checked in subtly with the Archbishop to make sure he was ready, then went on the offensive. BartOS immediately conjured a shield around his “body” and chided the party for not accepting the inevitable. They fought ferociously for a time, each employing the gifts of the Night Maiden to disable various technological weapons he called to his aid while steadily damaging his shield. Part way through the fight they learned that Bagel had been hiding out in one of the consoles and Sajaina used a weapon she had stolen to blow him to pieces, reclaiming None for the party. Finally, BarOS' shield fell and Gruk took None to the console, ripping bartOS body to pieces until his “mortal form” disintegrated. But there was a problem. For, while Gruk had cut away vital parts of his system, BartOS' soul would not depart. He had shackled the souls of many thousands of Tirisean's to his, effectively making himself a lich of some kind, allowing him to sacrifice a few of them in order to preserve his own life from death. Travize immediately saw the solution and drew a knife across his own throat, forcing Steave himself to appear. Steave acted with confusion, uncertain as to why Travize would commit suicide- especially after the deal the two of them had worked out. Travize asked him if he could kill BartOS, as they had mortally wounded him and he was simply cheating in order to stay alive. Steave shook his head, saying that, while what BartOS was doing was 'not supposed to happen' it would be against the rules for Steave to take his soul. And Travize said “You owe me a favor. Can I spend it on this?” Steave agreed, hesitantly, though only if Travize would also forfeit his own soul in the process. Choosing between himself and the entirety of Tirisea wasn't much of a decision to make, so he agreed, and Steave took both BartOS and Travize. Back in the Living World, the party was naturally freaked out. They saw that BartOS had gone away somehow and guessed that Travize's death might have had something to do with it, though they could not fathom why it was a thing that, as the prophecy had put it, “only he could do.” In shock, sadness and relief, they tried to decide what to do next. But then they noticed something on Travize's body glowing. It was a curious thing, a worthless coin of some unknown and unusable denomination. When they picked it up, a hole, darker than darkest black opened in the very air. A deep sense of dread seemed to weep from it, overpowering. From just beyond they could swear they heard a familiar voice. Those Travize had given little pieces of junk- the spiked circle (Sajaina), the metal bottle and antennaed pearl (Timmeron), and the scrap of dwarf-made cloth (Caireann), however, felt the dread abate. Whoever they touched experienced a similar sensation, making the darkness seem less terrifying. With a quick decision, the Archbishop stepped through the hole, not waiting for the others. After a few moments of consideration, the rest followed, sure as anything that they walked into Death itself. Category:Quests